Green Dolphin Street
Lux Radio Theater: Green Dolphin Street – Lana Turner
“Green Dolphin Street” Aired September 19, 1949, Starring Lana Turner
Green Dolphin Street
Green Dolphin Street is a 1947 historic drama film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and based on the novel by Elizabeth Goudge.
Plot Summary
In the 1840’s, on an island in the English Channel, two sisters, Marguerite (Donna Reed) and Marianne Patourel (Lana Turner), daughters of the wealthy Octavius Patourel (Edmund Gwenn), fall in love with the same man, William Ozanne (Richard Hart). Having settled in New Zealand, William writes a letter to the family proposing marriage to one of the sisters. Because he is drunk, he mistakenly writes the name “Marianne” instead of “Marguerite” It is actually Marguerite that he loves and wants to marry. Marianne, believing he wants to marry her, decides to set off for New Zealand to be with her intended.
Cast
Lana Turner as Marianne Patourel
Van Heflin as Timothy Haslam
Donna Reed as Marguerite Patourel
Richard Hart as William Ozanne
Frank Morgan as Dr. Edmond Ozanne
Edmund Gwenn as Octavius Patourel
Dame May Whitty as Mother Superior
Reginald Owen as Captain O’Hara
Gladys Cooper as Sophie Patourel
Moyna Macgill as Mrs. Metivier
Linda Christian as Hine-Moa
Bernie Gozier as Jacky-Poto
Patrick Aherne as Kapua-Manga
Al Kikume as A Maori
Edith Leslie as Sister Angelique
Ramsay Ames as Corinne
Gigi Perreau as Veronica
Douglas Walton as Sir Charles Maloney
Production Background
The film stars Lana Turner, Van Heflin, Donna Reed, and Richard Hart, and features a screenplay by Samson Raphaelson based on the historical novel Green Dolphin Street (1944) by Elizabeth Goudge. The film was directed by Victor Saville and produced by Carey Wilson.
Turner and Heflin reprised their roles in a Lux Radio Theatre version of Green Dolphin Street on 19 September 1949.
Hart and Heflin, who played romantic rivals in Green Dolphin Street, were similarly cast in B.F.’s Daughter (1948). Hart made only four feature films before his death at an early age, two of them co-starring Heflin.
Reception
The film was one of the most popular movies at the British box office in 1948 and MGM’s most popular movie of 1947. It earned $4,304,000 in the US and Canada and $2,869,000 elsewhere, but because of its high cost only recorded a profit of $339,000.
Awards
In 1948, the film won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, particularly for its depiction of a devastating earthquake. It was also nominated in the categories Cinematography (Black-and-White), Film Editing, Sound Recording (Douglas Shearer) and Special Effects.
Theme Song
The film’s title song, “Green Dolphin Street” (often recorded as “On Green Dolphin Street”), went on to become a jazz standard. The song has been recorded by Bill Evans, Eric Dolphy, The Modern Jazz Quartet, Tony Bennett, Miles Davis, Ahmad Jamal, John Coltrane, Agnieszka Hekiert, *Dick and Kiz Harp, and Grant Green among others.
